How Much Different Would Dan Marino's Career Have Been If Darius Rucker Caught That Pass In The "Only Wanna Be With You" Music Video?
This is often considered one of the biggest "what if's" in sports history. It was the summer of '95. Dan Marino had just been named the NFL Comeback Player of the Year the previous season after coming back from his torn achilles. He was clearly on the back 9 of his career but he still had some gas left in the tank. Would he have enough gas left in him to take the Dolphin back to the Super Bowl and finally get that elusive ring he chased his entire career? It's tough to say. But I think after looking back on it now, this drop by Darius Rucker will go down as the definitive dagger to Dan Marino's quest of being a Super Bowl Champion.
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There are certain plays that just define a career, and this was one of them for Dan Marino. There's really no reason to believe that he couldn't have got it done at any point in the final years of his career. He had just put up a career high in completions. And this easily should have been another. A perfect ball, a guaranteed touchdown, and Darius Rucker just dropped it. Next thing you know, what seemed to be a promising comeback for the former MVP ended up with just 2 more playoff wins.
Again, I'm not saying it would have been a guarantee for Marino to finally get his hands on the Lombardi Trophy if Darius Rucker got his hands on that ball. But that's the way the trajectory was going. The momentum was there to build off of the '94 season. But one horrifying drop altered the course of history. Now we'll never know.
Still an absolute jam though.